a fairground life (shed rats)

"R" picked a good time to go on holiday, as he missed pulling down the Skydiver at the mall. I did this with "worm" a week gone Sunday night. It took us 3 hours, what a disgrace as that was a good hour longer than it should have taken. To be fair though the last time I pulled that ride down was in June and it has been a while since I did any other heavy work so it doesn't take long to grow fat 'n' lazy. A few weeks after starting out should see me in the swing of things again (I hope).

I went looking for a shed again to work on the rides in. As usual I looked where the other showmen are working first to see if there was room and what's what. Anyhow while at the shed talking to one or two, it was mentioned that we are "shed rats". It was quite apt though as it is always the same faces that are in the sheds year on year. There are some showmen who have never been in a shed to do any work. Maybe they work harder in the summer or just have more time to do this maintenance then. Maybe they have better equipment that doesn't need this level of maintenance or maybe they are just lazy, but one thing is for sure- I don't seem to fall into any of these categories as I have been in sheds every few years for as long as I can remember, so I guess I am a "Shed Rat".

The skydiver has been taken back into the shed again for maintenance. I didn't think we were going to be able to do that work this month as the first proposed shed had a door that was too low and it was full with other rides anyway, also the engineer making the replacement components had not done so and was leaving the next morning for a 3 week holiday. So I cancelled the shed. Three hours later the engineer called me to come to his place immediately and he would do the components there and then. For 10pm that night I had the two new bushes in my hands. Now all I had to do was find another shed I could fit into. Anyway four days later and I manage to get space in the same shed I used two years ago, that was very lucky. I took the skydiver over there in the morning and put it back on its original plot used 6 and 2 years ago, in fact the blue paint from painting the chassis is still clearly visible on the floor!

With the ride positioned its only a matter of starting work, which I left to "r" and "wk" that day as I was otherwise engaged. I started on the job the next morning.

Its has been a week now that we have been working. The ride has had a few mechanical jobs done-pins,bushes etc. We started to repair the lighting again. The running light box has been playing up lately so I opened it for for inspection. I didn't spot anything obvious at first but then the box froze as I prodded and poked. It turned out that there was a fractured pin on a very small IC connector on a ribbon cable. It became more apparent when it broke off completely when I touched it. So I ended up at Maplins, then a computer repair shop and finally RS components, all of whom did not have a replacement. I have ordered one for tomorrow, I hope its the correct one. That episode took up a couple of hours and when we got into the shed it was lunchtime. We spent the next few hours putting in bulbs and changing bulb holders. I can't help but wonder how it seems that so much work needs done to the ride? I'm far from a perfectionist, but it seems the the potential for improvement to the ride is endless. It has been getting me down a bit as I have felt like I've been getting nowhere fast. Hopefully this feeling will pass and I will get a little ahead with things. After this one is finished the plan is to crack on with the Miami.